Custom Longarm Machine Quilting

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Another Super SImple Quilt

This is a quilt from a student at Gracie Lou's. She took the Quilting 101 class, and did such a good job on her first quilt! I love the fabrics she chose.
The backing was a brown with light blue polka dot minkee. I quilted it in a light blue thread.

She wanted "X" s in the little squares with swirlies surrounding in the big one (above) alternated with.....

Swirlies in the small square surrounded by a diamond/x/cross-hatched pattern in the big square.
It turned out so cute! I really love it when minkee is used as backing on quilts. It always looks so fun on the back! Plus, it is really soft and snuggly.


Custom quilt

A client came in and wanted a quilt done custom for her son, who will be leaving soon to serve an LDS mission in Brazil. She wanted pictures of Church related items, his name, his mission, and their family quilted onto the quilt.

She used two pieces of fabric, no piecing involved, to make this great gift for her son! The binding fabric was made from the remnants of the backing fabric, and she had me bind it for her.

Above: the Book of Mormon and the Holy Bible.

Above and Below: Her son's favorite LDS temple is the Mt. Timpanogos temple in American Fork. She had me quilt a picture of the temple (below) and then I wrote the name next to it (above).




Above: The CTR (Choose the Right) shield
Below: She wanted a house with a stick-figure family, and dog, with names written underneath. Instead of making the missionary a stick figure, I put him in a shirt complete with namebadge, and pants.


Below: In the center of the quilt I wrote "Called to Serve" his name, and his mission.


Not pictured: Along the top edges I wrote "Families are Forever" and "I will go, I will do". Along the left edge I wrote "I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" and along the right edge, towards the bottom I wrote "Return with Honor". The bottom edge has a saying that the client brought in that she liked: "God's gift to us is our family."
It turned out really cute. It was only 45 x 63. Not too big, but small enough that he could easily pack it with him from one area to another.
If you would like a custom quilt like this one done, please call me or contact me via email.



Thursday, October 23, 2008

Two More Halloween Quilts

Yesterday I finished quilting two more Halloween quilts for different customers.



This one was a lady's first quilt ever. It had a few flaws, like every first quilt will have, but she had a double batting, and I did a medium sized meander in black thread, and it ended up being really cute!
With the double batting and the meander everything puffed up just enough. It turned out really good. She should be proud that she successfully completed her first quilt, and it looks really good!
This next one was for the sister of one of my clients that I did 3 Halloween quilts for earlier this month. She wanted it quilted similarly to her sister's quilt, so I did close to the same thing.

I outlined the panel and then did the flower in the blocks. It turned out really good, too.






Sunday, October 19, 2008

Nicole's Wedding Quilt

Nicole, my husband's cousin, is getting married on Friday. She brought me this super cute quilt, made out of fabrics that match her wedding. She is having horseshoes as part of the theme of the wedding, and wanted me to quilt some into the quilt if I could.
In the background, behind the horseshoes, I quilted a tight meander. All the quilting was done in a pink (Old Rose) thread that matches the top and bottom fabrics PERFECTLY!
I quilted horseshoes in the pink/white stripe fabrics, and in the pink/white flower fabrics. It turned out really cute!

The horseshoes were all done freehand, and are available for use in other quilts.

Friday, October 17, 2008

Background Quilting

One of the ladies that works at the local quilt shop, Gracie Lou's, brought me this quilt. She just wanted me to do a meander in the background. She wanted to do the quilting in the borders.
Isn't it such a cute quilt? I love the fabrics she used! I used a pink colored thread (Old Rose) and did a medium meander. I also outlined the appliques, and stitched in the ditch along the green stripe at the bottom.

Pinwheels

I have been really busy recently, and have been putting off posting. Sorry! Anyway, I have finished a few quilts this week, and this one was one of my favorites.
She wanted swirls quilted in the pinwheels.
And clouds and wind quilted in the borders.
I love the backing fabric she picked. It is such a cool color. And I love the way the quilting shows up on the backing.
Especially the borders. The quilt was huge, but it turned out so cute!

The clouds and wind border is an original design, and is available for use on other quilts.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Simple Block Quilt

I got a phone call on Monday morning from someone who needed a quilt done quickly. It was her first quilt ever, and she just wanted it quilted along the seams. I love the fabrics she picked. They are mostly all jewel tones, and they look so gorgeous together!

I used a variegated thread, Butter Toffee, and quilted tiny leaves on a vine on all of the seams. The leaves are about 1 to 1 1/2 inches at the widest.
She used a poly-fill batting, around 1/2 to 3/4 inches thick, to create a puffy look. It turned out really cute, and surprisingly, the machine didn't have any trouble with the thickness of the batting.

Monday, October 13, 2008

Zinnias

This is the latest quilt I have done for Shasta at Gracie Lou's Quilt Shoppe. I really wish that the pictures showed the colors better, because this quilt was so beautiful! It was mostly maroon, tan, and dark brown. It was very geometric in design, which was really cool.
Shasta wanted me to do an all-over pattern that matched the floral print fabrics. The flowers in the fabrics were zinnias, so I did a variation of the flowers, and then did a continuous vine with leaves throughout the rest of the quilt. The leaves closely resemble the leaves in the fabrics.
She wanted to use minky on the back. It turned out so cool! Before I had seamed the backing, we all thought it looked like a giant fur coat. It was this beautiful plush dark brown minky with stripes.
You have to look closely, but I LOVE the way the quilting looked on the back. It was a very cool look.
The Zinnia pattern is an original quilting design, and is available for use on other quilts. The zinnias range in size from small to very large, as do the leaves.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Shasta's Rag Quilt

Shasta gave me this quilt to do for Gracie Lou's. It's made out of quilter's flannel. She didn't want it heavily quilted.
I did a small flower in the center of the smallest square, and then flowers in the border.

It turned out really cute. I can't wait to see what it looks like once she clips it!

Dabbling

My wonderful sister-in-law, Lola, is a genius at designing purses. Seriously. In fact, I am a little bit jealous of her talent! She has put a few of her fabulous designs up on her blog as free tutorials, and I made one back in April. The Jenny bag. It's a really great pattern, and super easy! It has been my trusty purse for the last 6 months. But, I'm finding that I needed a purse that hung over my shoulder more than one I just held in my hand. With a little 2 year old, who loves to go through my purse every opportunity he gets, I really need a purse I can hang on to little easier.

So, I dabbled in Lola's field and designed a bag. It isn't the greatest thing, but I am awfully proud of it!

Above: the front of the bag. Below: the inside of the bag.

The bag took 3 fat quarters to make. I think I'm going to call it the "LaRue" bag.

Monday, October 6, 2008

Another Halloween Quilt

I got a call from my local quilt shop a while ago asking me to come get a quilt for a customer. It was this really cute quilt.
She wanted an all-over pattern that had flowers and pumpkins. She had seen a quilt I did up at the quilt shop, and wanted me to do it like that one.
I used a light yellow colored thread (sunlight is the official name).

Friday, October 3, 2008

Bridal Shower Quilt

So, a cousin of my husband's is getting married later this month, and we as a family decided to give her a quilt. Her bridal shower is tomorrow. My mother-in-law picked this out from her many quilt tops in her collection.
I quilted a floral pattern in a wheat colored thread.
I love the way the quilting shows up on the back of th quilt. The thread was a little darker than the backing fabric, but it still turned out really cool looking.

Thursday, October 2, 2008

"Hey Ghoul Friend!"

This is the third of the super-cute Halloween quilts one of my clients brought me. I think this one was my favorite to quilt, because it was so fun!

I outlined the appliques, and then did a tight looping meander on the green background to make the appliques pop.

In the border are cute pieces of witch clothing, and I oultined those appliques, and then did a tight meander around them. I quilted the quilt with Goldenrod Yellow on the top, and black on the bobbin (the quilt had black for the backing fabric).

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

National Sewing Month Over

October is here, and that means that National Sewing Month is over. So, how did you all do? I didn't get nearly as much sewing done as I would have liked. I did however get a good amount of machine quilting in, which was nice. So! I would love to hear about the projects you completed!

Halloween Quilt

The same client who brought me the Halloween panel quilt brought me this cute one, too!


I quilted the borders in orange, and the cream background behind the appliques in an eggshell color.

Above: In the black outer border I quilted pumpkins on a vine. Below: in the border around the appliques I did a continuous loop. I outlined the appliques, and filled in the background with a meander.

Halloween Panel Quilt

I had a client bring in several quilts last Friday. They were all very cute, and she didn't know what she wanted done with them, and didn't really care, as long as they turned out cute.
Above: the Halloween panel quilt. I quilted the border in Goldenrod Yellow, and the center panel piece in black. Since the back was black, I used black thread in the bobbin.
Above: in each square in the border I quilted a flower. Below: I outlined the picture in the panel.

Circles and Stars

My client, "Joy" as I call her, brought me a quilt a few weeks ago. I finished it on Monday, and it turned out so cute! She wanted concentric circles (or bulls eyes) inside the circles on the quilt, and then she wanted me to echo the stars.

She got the pattern out of an old copy of Fons and Porter, and brought it in for me to reference. She had tried before to explain to me how she wanted it quilted, but seeing the picture made it a little easier to understand her vision once I saw the picture.

I have an attachment for my Gammill, and it allows me to do perfect circles, making this task a lot easier.

Above: the finished quilt top. It turned out so cute! Below: The back of the quilt. I think the back looks so cool. On some quilts where the back is very simple and you use a neutral thread color, the quilting just pops. I LOVE IT!

Above: close up of the circles. I did 5 circles, ranging from about 11 inches in diameter down to 3 inches in diameter. Below: I echo-ed the stars out to fill in the background behind the circles.

Above: In the borders I did half circles. In the corner I did 4 circles, ranging from about 9 inches in diameter to 3 inches in diameter. For the rest of the circles I did 3 ranging from about 7 inches to 3 inches in diameter. Below: Also, about halfway across each border, I did a section of cross-hatching.
The circle design is now available for use on other quilts.